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Google yesterday laid out its plan for philanthropy and announced $25 million in grants aimed at addressing climate change as well as poverty and health issues in developing countries.

The initial grants begin to fulfill a pledge made four years ago by Google's founders to devote about 1 percent of the company's equity and annual profit to humanitarian causes. Google.org, the philanthropic arm formed in 2006, expects to give away as much as $175 million over the next few years."

To Birkenstock, 32, it became the next step in her career. Birkenstock accepted a position with Loudoun County's Red Cross in November.

Prior to her position with the New York City Fire Department, Birkenstock led development efforts at the International Association of Fire Chiefs in Fairfax for three years. She also worked as an executive with the Boy Scouts of American in Washington, DC and Indianapolis, IN, her hometown.

Though she has English and Russian double major bachelors degrees from DePauw University, she believes her experience studying at Georgetown University's Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program will assist her most in her newest endeavors-to get the Loudoun Red Cross chapter's expenses and revenues in line and set some realistic goals for the new year."

Doctor's $1 million gift gets name on Scripps site: "The Scripps Research Institute will name the foyer of one of its three taxpayer-financed lab buildings for Ivax founder Dr. Phil Frost, after the Miami physician-entrepreneur and his wife pledged $1 million to support research.

The Frost name will appear in the entry of Scripps' drug discovery building, one of three structures now rising quickly in Jupiter's Abacoa development."

Monday, January 14, 2008

Nonprofit Employees Boost Their Retirement Savings - Alpha Consumer (usnews.com): "t's a question that often comes up when I get together with friends who work for nonprofits: Do they sacrifice money for their idealism? Most nonprofits are dedicated to improving the world in some way, but many people who work for them say they could earn more if they defected to the for-profit world. So how much, if anything, are they sacrificing for their career choice?

A new study from Fidelity Investments answers part of that question: At least in the ways they save for retirement, nonprofit workers seem a bit more conservative than their for-profit counterparts—but may have less money to work with. 'They tend to put away, in terms of deferral rates, a little bit more than corporate employees. However, their average balance is less than on the corporate side,' says John Begley, executive vice president of Fidelity Investments."

Philanthropists are often thought of as wealthy men who donate large sums of money.

But philanthropy can mean much more, especially to the ever-increasing number of women who are donating their time and money to charitable causes.

The Falconer Group, a family wealth advisory firm in Traverse City, recently released the results of a national survey focusing on the philanthropy of Baby Boomer women born between 1945 and 1960 and Gen X women born between 1961 and 1980."